Future of historic house in question

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Town officials are trying to save the 1815 structure and work with the United States Postal Service to create more parking at the post office next to it.

The USPS leases the property the house sits on and considered demolishing it to expand the post office parking lot.

"We met with the town in June about the house and about carving out a plot of land for the house's preservation for its historic value. But there are issues yet," USPS representative Maureen Marion said Wednesday.

She said the condition of the house, which has been vacant for years, could make it difficult to restore. Also, the slope and pitch of the land behind the house could be "problematic" for making parking spaces there.

"We're considering if the parking lot would be too low for people to walk up from it to the post office," Marion said.

"At the core of the discussion is what the town can do with the house. It's not the same for us as when there's an empty lot we can acquire and grade to create parking," she said.

In June, First Selectman Rudy Marconi and Town Engineer Charles Fisher sat down with USPS representatives and presented a rough plan for preserving the house while expanding post office parking from the present nine space to 28 spaces.

Fisher said Wednesday he has not had a chance to inspect the house from the inside, so he does not know the condition of the interior or if restoration is practical.

Marconi's plan was for the house to be sublet from the USPS by Sunrise Cottage, to be used as its second group for developmentally disabled adults.

Built originally in 1815 and added onto over the years, the house has Victorian touches and a portico added in 1900. A Connecticut Historical Resource Inventory entry from 1970 said it is "an early 19th century house with varied architectural aspects, critical from the context and chronological point of view in the block's history."